Cleaning Stains in Waxed Floors

If the scratches or stains are in the wood, the finish is probably a penetrating stain and wax.

• Scratches: Repair by waxing the area.
• Dried milk or food stains: Gently rub with a damp cloth. Rub dry and wax. When removing stains from any wood floor always begin at the outer edge of the stain and work toward the middle.
• Water stains or white spots: Rub spot with #000 steel wool and wax. If this fails, lightly sand with fine sandpaper and clean the area using #00 steel wool and mineral spirits or a wood floor cleaner. Allow the floor to dry. Stain, wax and hand buff.
• Heel marks: Rub in a small amount of wax with fine steel wool and hand buff to a shine.
• Mould: Rub with a wood cleaner.
• Chewing gum, crayon, candle wax: Apply a plastic bag filled with ice until the deposit is brittle enough to crumble off. Crayon or candle wax can be removed by placing an ink blotter on the wax and applying a hot pressing iron to the top of the blotter. Solvent-based wax can also be applied around the area to loosen the deposit.
• Oil and grease stains: First rub area with kitchen soap having a high lye content or saturate cotton with hydrogen peroxide and place over the stain. Then saturate a second layer of cotton with ammonia and place over the first. Repeat until the stain is removed. Let the area dry and then hand buff.
• Dark spots (dog spots) and ink stains: Try the water spots treatment. If the spot remains, apply a household bleach or vinegar and allow it to soak for an hour. Rinse with a damp cloth, wipe dry and smooth with fine sandpaper. Stain, wax and hand buff.
• Cigarette burns: If the burn is not very deep, rub the area with fine sandpaper or steel wool. Moisten the steel wool with wax for better results. If the burn is deep, scrape the area with a penknife to remove charred fibres. Rub the area with fine sandpaper. Stain, wax and hand buff.
• Wax build-up: Strip the old wax away with odourless mineral spirits or a wood floor product made for stripping wax. Use cloths and fine steel wool to remove all residue. After the floor is dry, wax and buff.